Shadow of Khan
by ElliotJA
Summary: The events of this story diverge from the prime Trek universe during STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN. After stealing Genesis, instead of abandoning Kirk inside the Regula asteroid, Khan beams him onto Reliant, and a different history ensues...FINAL TWO CHAPTERS NOW UP!
1. Chapter 1

Khan Noonien Singh smiled with satisfaction as he watched the USS _Enterprise _disintegrate into fiery chunks of debris on the viewscreen of the USS _Reliant_. For a moment he imagined the screams of the _Enterprise _crew as their bodies were shattered, or sucked into space's airless abyss, and sighed with pleasure.

Around him on the bridge, Khan's loyal acolytes cheered; some even embraced one another. _They deserve to show their joy_, he thought. _After all they have been forced to endure for so long_. He stood up from the command chair and held out his arms. "My friends," he said warmly. "This day will be long remembered. Today we begin our reclamation of the greatness stolen from us long ago. One day soon, our children will have undreamed of power, and will rule as deities over the very stars!"

He knelt down then and looked into the bruised face and glazed eyes of the man sat at the foot of the command chair. "Thank you for providing me with the information needed to destroy your precious ship, Kirk," he said mockingly. "It was wise of me to beam you on board, instead of leaving you within that dead planet, as I almost did."

Admiral James T. Kirk's battered face and voice were dull and flat as he murmured "Yes...Lord Khan. Wise..."

Khan laughed. There was no humour in the sound. "Of course, we also have my...pets to thank as well. Without them, I would have no control over you...or Dr. Marcus and your son." His grin swiftly faded and his hand shot out quick as lightning to snare Kirk's swollen jaw in a steel-like grip. "You will die, Kirk, you may count on it. But you have more to suffer before then, and I shall relish every sweet moment of your anguish."

"Sir?" asked Joachim, seated at the helm. "What are your orders, sir?"

Khan was silent for a moment, before he let go of Kirk and stood upright. "For now, let us return to Regula 1," he replied. "I have a mind to explore those caves Dr. Marcus and her people thought to hide from me in. Execute a course." He began to stride towards the turbolift doors, then stopped and turned to glare at Kirk still slumped against the chair. "Follow, Kirk!" he barked.


	2. Chapter 2

The Genesis Cave - for so the gigantic inner world deep inside the bowels of the Regula asteroid had been named by its creators - was quite possibly the most wonderful and spectacular place that Joachim had yet seen. Leaning against the bark of a tree in a small meadow, listening to the chirping of birds and taking in the forests and rivers bathed in the rich light of the artificial sun, he was reminded of books he had read in his childhood - _Journey to the Centre of the Earth _by Jules Verne, and Edgar Rice Burroughs' tales of Pellucidar, with their accounts of fantastic lands inside the planet. Throughout the dark and terrible years of struggle and suffering on Ceti Alpha V, he had yearned for a place as beautiful as this.

He heard footsteps crunching in the grass behind him and looked around. Khan stood there. "Am I disturbing you, Joachim?" he asked.

"No, my lord, of course not," Joachim responded. "I was just enjoying my surroundings. It is a welcome change from our previous environment."

Khan gazed out across the distance, his bearing both tranquil and regal at once. "This is only the beginning," he said. "With the Genesis Device, we can create an entire new planet to rule over...or many, if we so desire. The Marcuses are already at work building more such devices." He chuckled softly. "Ironic, is it not, that Kirk's lover and their bastard offspring should be among our greatest assets." With the Ceti eels, Khan had total control over all his prisoners; the hideous creatures burrowed into their victims' skulls through the ears, making them into automatons obeying Khan's every command, until they eventually brought about their hosts' agonizing deaths.

"We may not be able to stay here long," said Joachim. "Starfleet will want to know what has become of _Enterprise _and _Reliant_."

"Fear not," Khan told him comfortingly. "I already have plans for our continued safety. Have faith in me, Joachim."

"You know I always shall, sir," Joachim said earnestly. He looked down then, as though ashamed of something. "I confess," he continued, "There were times I feared your need to avenge yourself on Kirk might consume you totally, even destroy you."

Khan knelt beside him and placed a hand softly on his shoulder. "Your concern touches me, Joachim," he said. "It is a sign of your loyalty to me, and to all of us. I have always looked upon you as the son I never had...and I know that your honour and courage will make you a worthy successor to my throne."


	3. Chapter 3

On the bridge of the USS _Eagle_, Lt Borrin spun in her chair at the communications station, her hand to her earpiece. "Captain, I'm receiving a distress call on the hyperchannel. Audio only," she reported.

"On speakers, Lt," Captain Kenneth Garrettson ordered briskly.

The voice that came over the bridge's speakers seemed to be male, though bursts of static intermittently drowned it out, making it uncertain: "_To any vessels...is Regula 1. We...assistance. Repeat, urgent...emergency..._" The crackling and fizzing intensified.

"Regula 1, this is the USS _Eagle_," Borrin said. "Come in, please. Do you read us?" Several seconds of static went by before the channel cut off. Borrin shook her head and said apologetically "Sorry, sir, the transmission's gone."

Garrettson thought for a moment, wondering if this might have anything to do with the odd loss of contact with _Reliant _in this sector recently. Perhaps the Klingons were causing trouble? They certainly weren't too far from the Empire's borders, and Garrettson didn't trust that murderous race as far as he could throw them. "Mr Drake, plot a course for Regula 1," he ordered, "Warp factor 9."

OOOOOOOO

Upon exiting warp space, Garrettson was surprised when the main viewscreen displayed a Miranda-class starship waiting for them near Regula. A quick scan revealed the ship to be none other than _Reliant_. Garrettson was about to try hailing Captain Clark Terrell, when Borrin reported that _Reliant _was already requesting audio communication, as well as swiftly approaching them. Garrettson expected to hear Terrell's voice over the intercom - he and Terrell were good friends - but the voice that greeted them was unfamiliar: "_Reliant _to _Eagle_. Situation under control. Stand by for further information."

"They've cut off transmission, Captain," said Borrin a few seconds later, puzzlement and a faint trace of concern in her tone. On the viewscreen, _Reliant _drew closer.

"Whatever's going on," Garrettson replied, "I'm sure Captain Terrell will have a good explanation." _Then why do I suddenly feel so uneasy_, he found himself thinking, before banishing such thoughts. Obviously, whatever had been wrong at Regula 1, _Reliant _had arrived in response to the distress call ahead of _Eagle_, and dealt with the problem.

"Captain, they're locking - " the science officer started to say, a split second before _Reliant_'s phaser cannons sent lancing beams of ruby energy tearing into them with devastating force. The deck pitched dangerously; consoles exploded in bursts of flame, hurling crewmen backwards. The lights went out, to be replaced by the dark crimson glow of emergency lighting.

Garrettson struggled up from the deck, clutching his bleeding temple. "Damage report!" he yelled, his vision blurred and spinning.

Several seconds went by before he got a response. "Direct hit! They've taken out our shields and weapons, sir! Engines are down!" It was at that moment several columns of glittering light appeared, resolving into the figures of men and women armed with phasers. The instant they appeared, they took aim and felled anyone still conscious.

One of the boarders, a tall women built like an Amazon, flipped open her communicator. "Khan, this is Magda," she said. "We have successfully taken the bridge. The crew had no time to resist us."

"_Very good_," Khan answered over the communicator. "_Our strength grows..._"


	4. Chapter 4

Khan stepped into his cabin on _Reliant _and looked down contemptuously at the form of James Kirk lying on the floor, motionless but for the slow, laboured rising and falling of his chest. A thin stream of saliva poured from his open mouth, staining the carpet. The Ceti eel had done its work, reducing the Starfleet admiral to a dying vegetable. Khan leaned down, wrapped his hand round the man's neck, and violently hoisted him up, Kirk's feet dangling a few inches from the floor. "Now you know, Kirk!" he hissed, he hissed, tears stinging his eyes. "Now you fully experience what you condemned my wife to, what you inflicted on so many of my people! How does it feel, old friend?" He hurled Kirk back down to the floor, where he landed with a crash and lay limply like a broken rag doll. Khan kicked him viciously in the ribs, experiencing a rush of cathartic joy as he heard bones break.

"Your woman and child suffer with you," Khan continued. "But they have already given me all the information I need to replicate Genesis. They are probably dead at this very moment. Before you die in such exquisite agony, Kirk, I want you to know that I will forever cherish our time together since we were reunited...I will miss hurting you."

Kirk's body spasmed violently then, and he gave a choked gurgle, his eyes rolling up into their sockets to show their red-veined whites. As Khan watched, blood geysered in thick spurts from Kirk's ear. The admiral screamed once, and then was completely still. He would never move again. Then Khan caught the thin sound of mewling as the eel pushed through the bloody mucus coating Kirk's ear. In the space of a few seconds, he had scooped the still small creature up and deposited it in a container with the larger specimens.

As for Kirk's body, he used a knife to sever the head, and placed it on his desk. He toasted it with a glass of Saurian brandy.


	5. Chapter 5

"Now approaching Nibiru," Magda reported from the helm on the bridge of the _Eagle_.

"Excellent. Drop to impluse," Khan replied, swivelling in his chair to face viewscreen. "Activate main viewer." On the screen, a small point quickly enlarged into a muddy-brown and amber planet, dappled here and there with grey.

"Such an insignficant, godforsaken place," Magda commented coldly.

"It is its relative insignificance that makes it an ideal location to plant the seeds of our new kingdom," Khan reminded her. He considered what he had learned of Nibiru from Starfleet's data records: Located outside Federation territory in a remote sector, it had once been a lush Class M world, with a rich variety of native life, including a primitive humanoid species, until a massive volcanic eruption twenty-six years ago triggered wide environmental damage that obliterated three quarters of the planet's inhabitants. Now it was largely desolate wasteland. _Not altogether unlike Ceti Alpha V_, Khan mused._ However, this poor world shall _not _remain so inhospitable for very long_.

"All systems nominal on Genesis One, sir," reported Ranjit at the science officer's station. "We are ready!"

At Khan's command, the Genesis One torpedo ejected from _Eagle _and sped toward Nibiru as a crimson orb of power. No one on the bridge dared breath as the device penetrated the planet's atmosphere; a second later their eyes widened in awe as a massive sheet of fiery energy blossomed from the device's point of entry, and quickly expanded to engulf the entire globe.

"My God..." Ranjit gasped, scarcely able to believe what he was seeing. In the next few moments they observed a process usually encompassing millions of years occur right in front of them. Nibiru's dreary colouring had soon been replaced with the blue of oceans and the green of forested continents, along with the white of whispy clouds.

Khan reached out with his hand, as though to grasp the world spinning before him. Finally finding his voice, he barked out "Science station, report!"

"Sensors indicate a perfect oxygen atmosphere, sir!" said Ranjit as he peered at his instruments, his excitement barely contained. He proceeded to run off a list of positive readings, ending with "We've done it, my lord!"

Khan closed his eyes and smiled in pure joy and pride. "My people," he said, indicating the transformed Nibiru with his hand, "I give you your new home."

"Farewell to the old Nibiru," whispered Magda, "Long live the new Nibiru and its superior masters!"


	6. Chapter 6

_**Eighteen months later**_

Khan had taken a great interest in exploring the largely uncharted regions beyond Nibiru that lay toward the galaxy's edge, and for the past several months had been probing ever further into the unknown. The fledgling Nibiru colony was in capable hands with Joachim in charge. The younger man did not mind remaining behind; these days he and his new wife, Magda, preferred to be as close as possible to their newborn son and daughter. Khan was immensely happy for Joachim, and for the other clan members now bringing children into the world. Via several raids on merchant vessels, they had acquired considerable supplies to assist in the building of the colony. Khan himself had seen to it that no members of the crews survived to speak of who had attacked them; it would be blamed on Orion or Nausicaan pirates.

He was jerked out of his glad thoughts then by Eli, the navigator, reporting a ship on the sensors, closing fast. Scrutinizing the image of the approaching vessel on the viewer, Khan said "Identification?"

"It's a completely unrecognized design, sir," Eli replied. "What are your orders? Should we attack?"

"Not yet," answered Khan. "Raise shields. Ranjit, scan for lifesigns."

A short moment later, Ranjit turned to him with a look of bewilderment on his face. "Scans detect approximately thirty lifeforms on board," he said, "All human."

"They're hailing us," Lavinia, seated at communications, reported.

At Khan's command, the transmission was routed to the viewer. The screen shifted from an exterior view of the oncoming ship to an image of a brown-haired, strong-looking human male on an unfamiliar bridge, wearing an equally unfamiliar uniform. "Unidentified vessel, I am Captain Simon Vasquez of the -" he started to say, but fell silent as he looked closely at Khan. His eyes widened and rapidly blinked, and he gasped "No...this can't be real. I must be hallucinating..."

_He acts as though confronted by a phantom spirit_, Khan thought. _Yet I detect no fear in his gaze_. "You seem to recognize me," he said carefully. "May I ask the identity of the person I so uncannily resemble?"

The man on the viewer visibly swallowed, then replied "Though older, your face is virtually identical to that of a great man from the time of my ancestors, long ago. His name was Khan."

_Reliant_'s bridge crew all glanced at one another in incredulity and some wariness. What was going on? What should they do? But then their leader spoke: "Then you may consider yourself most privaleged, Captain...for I _am _Khan Noonien Singh."

On the viewscreen, Vasquez appeared to tremble, then said "Please excuse me." He gestured to someone off-screen and the audio cut off. He seemed to be engaged in a private discussion with his crew.

"I don't trust him," Eli muttered. "I say we disable their vessel now and take what we can!"

Vasquez reopened the audio then. "Sir, with your permission, may I beam over to your ship?" he said to Khan. "I will be alone and unarmed."

OOOOOOOO

Some minutes later, Khan stood in _Reliant_'s transporter room as Ranjit activated a switch on the control panel. Light shone on one of the transporter pads and coalesced into Captain Vasquez. Khan stepped forward imperiously and said "Welcome on board my ship, Captain. Now that you are here, I trust you will be able to answer my questions."

If Vasquez's reactions over the viewscreen had been astonishing, what he did now was even more extraordinary and unexpected. Facing Khan, he dropped to one knee, bowed his head, and entoned "Hail Khan Noonien Singh, greatest of all the Elder Titans and rightful lord of us all!"

OOOOOOOO

In Khan's quarters, Vasquez explained himself. According to him, his ancestors had left Earth nearly two hundred years ago to found a new society where they could freely honor the genetically superior Augments - or Elder Titans, as they had come to be known - of the late twentieth century. Vasquez's culture idolized them as mighty visionaries and heroes, who strove to guide and protect the rest of humanity, only to be slandered and persecuted...and Khan was lauded as the greatest of the ancient warrior-saviours.

Vasquez's ancestors never believed the atrocity stories told about Khan, but were enthralled by the rumors that he had escaped his enemies on a spacecraft called _Botany Bay_ and gone into outer space, and held out hope that he might return one day, or might be found...and were shunned and reviled for those hopes. And so when the opportunity came, these outcasts abandoned Earth using several early warp ships. They had not long left their planet of origin when a spatial phenomena swept their small fleet into the far reaches of the galaxy, where they colonized a star system and had thrived for nearly two centuries. Their civilization now encompassed several systems.

"You're what we've been waiting for, Khan," Vasquez said excitedly. "On Earth, hatred and treason saw your kingdom destroyed, but among my people, you will be adored. Come back to my civilization and lead us, Khan, I beg you...We need you!"

In all his days since waking up in the twenty-third century, Khan had not expected anything like this; to encouner humans who praised his name instead of condemning him as a tyrant and monster. Sitting there, he could sense Vasquez's total honesty. He and his people could be very useful. "I will visit your home, Vasquez," he said, smiling warmly. "I would like to see your culture for myself..."


	7. Chapter 7

_**Twelve years later**_

Under the pale-blue winter sky of Kessik IV's northern hemisphere, Howard Kelley swung the blade of his axe into the tough bark of a tree, grunting with the effort, and pondered how things in the galaxy had become so shitty.

He supposed things had started to go wrong thirteen years ago, when that strange alien probe arrived at Earth and devastated the whole planet, vaporizing the oceans and generating massive global storms. The flooding and hurricanes had been catastrophic, nearly totally engulfing large portions of whole continents. Nothing this bad had been seen on Earth in over two hundred years, when the atmosphere had been heavily polluted from over-industrialisation and the nuclear weapons used in the Third World War. In just one week of the probe's onslaught, most technology broke down. No vessels could escape, and their orbits soon decayed, starships and starbases plummeting to Earth and causing further damage. By the time the probe left, civilization on Earth was near absolute breakdown.

Reconstruction efforts were still underway eight years later when disaster befell the Klingons: Praxis, a moon of the Klingon homeworld and a key source of energy for the Empire, exploded in a mining mishap, sending gigantic pieces of debris smashing into the planet, wiping out whole areas, and choking the atmosphere with radioactive ash. Within days, millions were dead or dying.

The Chancellor of the High Council, a reasonable guy named Gorkon, tried to approach the Federation for aid, with offerings of peace. Unfortunately, his ideas weren't very popular with some, and he soon wound up assassinated. Gorkon's daughter took over his position, but she let herself be manipulated by extremists on the High Council into launching all-out war on the Federation.

The war didn't end well for anyone. Within just two years of fighting, both sides were decimated. Entire sectors of space were rendered virtually uninhabitable, over half of both fleets were wiped out, and trillions were slaughtered. An armistice was eventually signed in the third year, but the damage was done. Now other rivals like the Tholians and the Cardassians were starting to nibble at the edges of the weakened Federation, and what was left of the Klingon Empire was slowly being overrun by the Romulans and the Gorn. Colonies such as Kessik IV and its neighbor, Kessik III, were becoming isolated as interstellar travel and communication diminished.

"Dad!" a voice cried behind him. Turning round from chopping at the tree, he saw his twelve-year old daughter, Susanna, running over the hill. Her eyes were wide and afraid, and she had gone very pale. "Dad, you've gotta come quick, it's important!" she gasped out.

Leaving the axe on the ground, Kelley ran after his daughter down the hill, and across the short distance to where their cabin stood. When they entered the sitting room, he saw Moira, his wife, sat in front of the telescreen, on which he saw what looked like a planet on fire. Moira turned round, her face as white as Susanna's. "Howard, Kessik III is sending this," she said. "It's Kessik II. A fleet of ships just appeared and fired something at the planet, and it did this!"

"What?" Kelley exclaimed, peering closer.

As they watched, Moira shook her head in dismay and fear. "No...this shouldn't be possible," she said. "Howard...according to the readings, Kessik II's entire composition is altering right now! Its condition is going from Class G to...Class O!" As the fiery glow dwindled around Kessik II, massive oceans started to become visible, where before there had only been vast deserts. The only life on the planet had been primitive single-celled organisms; Nothing terribly important, but Kelley couldn't help wondering what had happened to them.

"We should get to the main settlement," he told his family. "Someone there must have some idea what the hell's happening."

OOOOOOOO

It was a journey of an hour and a half from the Kelley's house to the main colony via hovercar. The afternoon was darkening into evening now, and the desolate forest above which the vehicle travelled had taken on a sinister, threatening quality. There was danger, not far away, of that there could be no doubt in their minds.

Just as they approached the cluster of buildings that was the colony, something twisted in Kelley's gut as he saw three figures, dressed in unfamiliar uniforms and carrying large rifles, stalking toward where they were landing. "Don't panic," he said to his wife and daughter as the car settled on the concrete. "For all we know, they could be here to help us." They looked human enough.

They got closer, and the Kelley's saw their hard, cruel faces. One of them rapped sharply on the plexiglass windscreen with a huge fist, and harshly barked "Vacate the vehicle and come with us _now_."

"Who are you people?" Moira asked, trembling in her seat.

The man who had spoken looked darkly at her, and growled "They do say actions speak louder than words." With that, he grabbed the outer door handle and, with a swift tug, wrenched the door right off its hinges and flung it a few feet away. "We are stronger than you," the man told them. "You cannot resist us, and must therefore obey us. Now come with us, or feel pain."

Susanna's breath was coming in quick, short gasps; Kelley was afraid she might start hyperventalating. "Okay, okay," Kelley said to the men. "We'll go with you, just don't hurt any of us, please."

The three of them were marched through the twilight streets and shown into the council hall. Most of the other colonists were already gathered within, guarded by more strangers with weapons. Some of the colonists murmured uneasily among one another, until given threatening prods from the butts of their captors' weapons. They caught sight of the colony governor, his face intensely fearful.

One of the strangers stepped onto the platform usually occupied in colony meetings by the governor. "Colonists of Kessik IV," he anounced, "I am Commander Joachim, representing the Augment Imperium. Consider yourselves our subjects." At the low mutterings of alarm that rippled through the crowd, he continued: "Please heed me. You and your neighbors have seen the power our fleet possesses; some of you have witnessed our superior physical strength. I have no desire to see any of you harmed, but we will have your obedience, one way or another."

The doors flew open then, and in strode two more of the strangers, carrying between them a limp form. Moira gasped in shock as she recognized the beaten, bloodied individual they roughly cast onto the floor as Eliott Collins, a friend of theirs. "Oh God, Elliot!" she cried, rushing to kneel beside him. Eliott's face was heavily bruised, one eye nearly swollen shut; a nasty cut bled profusely just below the other.

"He resisted us and tried to run," one of the men who'd brought him in sneered. "He's paid the price for defying us."

"Bastards!" Moira spat, glaring up at him in anguish and outrage. "You could've crippled him!"

"On your feet, Standard bitch!" the man snarled, reaching down to grab her by her coat and haul her violently up.

"Hey!" Kelley yelled, stepping forward. "Get your hand off my wife, you - " His sentence ended in a cry of shock and pain as one of the other invaders kicked him in the back, slamming him to the floor. He screamed then as a booted foot landed with crushing impact onto his right hand, splintering bones. Blood gushed from beneath the boot. Kelley's wife and daughter cried out, tears in their eyes.

Smirking viciously, one of the other invaders stalked toward Kelley, but suddenly halted when their leader, Joachim, shouted "STOP!" Stepping down from the platform, he walked up to them and said firmly "No more acts of physical violence will be inflicted on these people this day. Is that understood?"

"Commander, with all due respect," one of his underlings said, "These inferiors must be made to recognize our superiority. That is part of our mission mandate, given by Lord Khan himself!"

"I know Khan's wishes, Dillon," Joachim replied. "And they will be implemented...but for now, I say enough." He gestured to Kelley and Eliott. "Administer full medical care to them, immediately." He turned and addressed the stunned onlookers: "I am not without mercy and compassion. But even my patience has its limits...I would advise you not to test them."


	8. Chapter 8

The hot climate of Vulcan felt more oppressive and ominous than normal as Federation President Sarek sat in his office and reviewed the latest data on the war with the Augment Imperium. The enemy's superior technology and numbers had seen them victorious at Andoria, decimating the outmatched fleet the Federation sent to engage them. It was darkly fascinating, in some ways, to think that men from Earth's Eugenics Wars, over three hundred years in the past, could inflict so much cataclysmic damage to an interstellar state. He found himself thinking how much he wished Spock and Amanda were here to give him support, and then wondered how the Klingons were doing in their struggle against the Imperium's relentless onslaught...

The door to his office opened then and Admiral Cartwright walked in. "Sorry for the intrusion, Mister President," he said, "But there's something you need to see." He activated a device and a large screen blinked on. A panel at the bottom of the screen read FEDERATION NEWS SERVICE: SPECIAL REPORT.

Above the words was the face of Klingon Chancellor Azetbur, her strong, attractive visage haunted and her eyes bitter and downcast. The emblem of her people could be seen behind her. "_My father told me once that times change_," she was saying. "_That sometimes, for the sake of the future, the hardest decisions must be made_..." She took a deep, shuddering breath then, and seemed almost about to weep. "_And so it is_," she continued, "_That I announce the total surrender of the Klingon Empire to the forces of Khan Singh's Augment Imperium. On this day, the sons and daughters of Qo'noS lay down their weapons and acknowledge the strength of their new masters._" She slammed her leather-gloved fist against her chest and said hoarsely "_All honor Khan!_" With that, the transmission ended.

"It's strange," Cartwright commented. "I never much liked the Klingons, but now...Dammit, I almost feel bad for them."

Sarek thought long and hard. Finally, he said softly, almost too softly to be heard "Perhaps the Klingons made the only logical choice..."


	9. Chapter 9

_**Twenty years later**_

The walls of the transporter room materialized before Grand Admiral Joachim's eyes, and he stepped off the platform to be saluted by the operator, an attractive raven-haired woman of the Augmented race. "Welcome, Grand Admiral," she said to him crisply, "His Supreme Majesty awaits you, if you will please accompany me."

Joachim nodded, and permitted himself to be escorted through the spacious hallways of the Imperial Residence until they arrived at a door flanked by two imposing guardsmen armed with plasma lances, who saluted him. The woman ran the palm of her hand across a small scanner set into the door, and a familiar voice spoke from within: "Enter." The door slid elegantly aside to reveal Khan sitting comfortably on a cushioned throne, dressed in a majestic robe, his snow-white hair pulled back ina ponytail. Even at eighty-seven years old - three hundred and fifty-eight, if one counted the centuries he had spent frozen in cryogenic suspension since leaving Earth in 1996 at the age of thirty-five - Khan Noonien Singh, the God-Emperor, was still physically and mentally at peak prowess, due in no small part to his enhanced DNA and significant medical advancements made in the last hundred years.

As soon as he saw Joachim, Khan smiled joyously. "Joachim, dear friend," he said, "Do come in." He nodded to the Klingon woman sat opposite him, whom Joachim recognized as Azetbur, former Chancellor of the Klingon High Council and now one of the emperor's consorts. "You may go now," Khan told her. As Azetbur dutifully exited the chamber without a word, Khan also nodded to the transporter operative, who bowed and left, the door closing behind her. Still smiling, Khan rose and walked over to Joachim, clapping his hands on the younger man's shoulders. "It is so very good to see you," he sighed. "Thank you for coming."

"I could never refuse your summons, sire, for any reason," Joachim replied. "I owe you too much...we all do."

"And how fares your family?" Khan asked, pouring them two glasses of Andorian wine-analog from a bottle on a table. "I hear you are a grandfather now."

Joachim smiled, accepting the glass offered him. "I can't tell you how proud Istvan is to be a father to such a beautiful son, nor how proud Magda and I are of him for giving us our first grandchild. We're hoping Iseult may soon provide us with another."

"I am sure your offspring will bring you much glory," Khan responded. "Come. I have something to show you." He beckoned, and Joachim followed him into an adjacent chamber whose walls were adorned with trophies from the myriad worlds subjugated by the Imperium: A fragment of the uniform of a Federation Starfleet officer; a Klingon _bat'leth_; a Talarian laser rifle; a Mark II automated sentry drone from Cogen V.

Khan activated a display screen in the corner of the room. "Recently, Imperium operatives surveyed an unexplored planet beyond Deneb," he explained. "While doing so, they discovered this." The screen showed a rectangular outline superimposed against a pitch-black background. Inside it could be seen a sunlit forest. "Have you ever heard of the Iconians, Joachim?" Khan asked.

Joachim nodded. "Yes. An ancient alien civilization, hundreds of millennia ago. They were called 'demons of air and darkness' by other, more primitive cultures, because of their abiltiy to traverse many thousands of light years in moment, via 'magical portals.'"

"I believe this to be a remnant of Iconian technology," Khan explained. "A gateway capable of taking individuals places it would take months, if not years, to reach on a starship at maximum warp! My scientists are studying the gateway now...If we can master it, we can claim the entire galaxy, perhaps even far beyond! Nothing would be unreachable to us!"

Hearing these words, Joachim's mind raced with wondrous possibilities. He felt himself almost trembling with excited anticipation of the new vistas that would be opened to the Augmented race. "My lord Khan," he finally responded, struggling to keep his voice from faltering from the emotion he felt, "It is your strength and wisdom that has granted us the power we now have. Time and again, the weak have tried to deny us, crush us...but you are too great for any of them! And I know in my heart that you will lead us to greater glories still."

And Khan Noonien Singh looked into Joachim's eyes and saw the love there, the love that had been there since Joachim was just a boy, and that Khan knew would always be there. "_We _will lead our people to grander glories, Joachim," he said. "After all...are we not truly superior?"

_**FIN**_


End file.
